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lizzycatslibrary's review against another edition
3.0
I would have given it 4 stars but seriously... wtf happened to that ending? It was rushed, poorly written, underwhelming and just downright disappointing. Seriously , what happened?
alexan13's review against another edition
4.0
Given how lukewarm I felt starting this book, and how long it took me to get into it, I certainly did not expect to find a new favorite.
But wow. These characters have my whole entire heart and I can just tell I’m going to be thinking about them for a long time to come.
There were definitely some flaws with the world building of this novel that made it difficult to get into and at times made the world difficult to believe — it’s detailed world building, but done in a surface level way, mostly through information dumps throughout the novel. But, the political stakes this ending left gives me hope the sequel will come through with the more substantial world information. And by the end of this novel, the atmosphere of the City of Sin had really sunk in, and I did believe in the city that reveals itself to almost be a character in the novel.
I’d also say the narrative style took a while to get used to — the writing style is pretty simple prose overall, but with artsy (and very beautiful and well-constructed! Truly some great lines, I will credit), deeply metaphorical, figurative sentences thrown in every couple pages. It’s not that this was necessarily bad, but it just felt forced and overly “”literary”” when the rest of the writing is not, which felt disjointed and took me out of the story every time it happened.
For these reasons, I have to fairly give it four stars. But in my heart and for my emotional experience for the final 60% of the novel, it is a new favorite for sure.
I seriously cannot gush enough about the characters, and their growth, and the s l o w burn of the romantic relationships and developing friendships through out. The plot too escalates from stakes that are hard to get invested to, into a truly intriguing mystery about a quarter way into the book. And the tension that is successfully established at this point does not let up the rest of the novel — I found myself literally tearing through the last tenth of it.
But wow. These characters have my whole entire heart and I can just tell I’m going to be thinking about them for a long time to come.
There were definitely some flaws with the world building of this novel that made it difficult to get into and at times made the world difficult to believe — it’s detailed world building, but done in a surface level way, mostly through information dumps throughout the novel. But, the political stakes this ending left gives me hope the sequel will come through with the more substantial world information. And by the end of this novel, the atmosphere of the City of Sin had really sunk in, and I did believe in the city that reveals itself to almost be a character in the novel.
I’d also say the narrative style took a while to get used to — the writing style is pretty simple prose overall, but with artsy (and very beautiful and well-constructed! Truly some great lines, I will credit), deeply metaphorical, figurative sentences thrown in every couple pages. It’s not that this was necessarily bad, but it just felt forced and overly “”literary”” when the rest of the writing is not, which felt disjointed and took me out of the story every time it happened.
For these reasons, I have to fairly give it four stars. But in my heart and for my emotional experience for the final 60% of the novel, it is a new favorite for sure.
I seriously cannot gush enough about the characters, and their growth, and the s l o w burn of the romantic relationships and developing friendships through out. The plot too escalates from stakes that are hard to get invested to, into a truly intriguing mystery about a quarter way into the book. And the tension that is successfully established at this point does not let up the rest of the novel — I found myself literally tearing through the last tenth of it.
luey03's review against another edition
2.0
You know what's sad? My favorite characters were Chez and Mansi.
I honestly feel embarrassed for Amanda Foody, because 'muck'.... seriously? If you can't come up with anything more unique than muck just don't add a fake swear word.
Spoiler
Yep. Chez tried to kill Levi (and I honestly wish he had succeeded) and Mansi was in the book for an entirety of about two seconds.I honestly feel embarrassed for Amanda Foody, because 'muck'.... seriously? If you can't come up with anything more unique than muck just don't add a fake swear word.
katielikesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It was okay, I just didn’t find it as tense as I think Amanda was trying to write it to be. I liked the characters but I didn’t really feel attached to them or what they were going through, not sure why. It was still a good book but I don’t think I will read the rest of the trilogy.
angelika0105's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
abbyl819's review against another edition
5.0
This is the best reading experience that I’ve had in awhile! I found this whole world of New Reynes and the magic/talents correlated to their lineage and names so incredibly intriguing. I couldn’t put this book down! I also really enjoyed the characters, although there were a few instances of name that I couldn’t remember or keep straight, I had no problem adjusting to the world and learning about it as Enne herself did. I have so many questions and can’t wait to read the next book. It reminded me of the Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and Caraval by Stephanie Garber series, and I would highly recommend this to fans of those books.
jenhurst's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve seen a lot of reviews calling this a knockoff six of crows, but I actually got more caraval vibes from this and really enjoyed it. I liked the Vegas vibes in the city of sin and the large cast of characters
gardenfairyreads's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
The characters and plot were pretty well developed and interesting, but something about the writing style was a bit off putting. There were a couple of scenes in particular that I think could definitely have been executed better, and as a result, I wasn't totally absorbed in this book as I was reading it. However, I will still probably read the sequel, as I did truly like the characters and would like to continue following their journey.
The characters and plot were pretty well developed and interesting, but something about the writing style was a bit off putting. There were a couple of scenes in particular that I think could definitely have been executed better, and as a result, I wasn't totally absorbed in this book as I was reading it. However, I will still probably read the sequel, as I did truly like the characters and would like to continue following their journey.
greyys_libraryy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Ace of Shades at first wasn't too exciting, but I became more engrossed into the book. It didn't interest me enough to continue the series, but I did think that it was entertaining. I liked the characters and how they interacted with each other and the world. I thought the worldbuilding was done well, as well as the political system though the political history felt a little confusing. The shadow game, Enne, and Lords was the plotline i was most interested in, while I feel am bothers were more interested in the romance. I liked the character development that we saw within Enne specifically during her time in the city. I wouldn't recommend the book to others, but if someone says it sounds interesting it wouldn't hurt to read it